Media Shrugs Off Fact That Rhode Island’s First Man Works For Company That Aids Saudi Arabian Repression

By now, everyone should be aware of the controversy over the despicable murder by the Saudi Arabian regime of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the authoritarian government.

The dictatorship put out a nonsensical story that Khashoggi’s murder was reallyjust the result of an interrogation gone wrong that ended up in a fistfight. The whole story is despicable and should make anyone who values freedom of the press sick to their stomach. (Stories like these make men like me roll their eyes when we hear the establishment press talk about how the Trump administration is somehow making an attack on the press.)

In any event, among the increased scrutiny of the Saudi Arabian oppressive regime, the New York Times reported today (Sunday) that McKinsey corporation, a massive consulting company in the United States, aided and abetted the Saudi government in their repressive actions. McKinsey reportedly helped Saudi Arabia identify Saudi citizens who criticized their own government on Twitter. Many of those critics were later arrested and imprisoned.

How nice! Is there anything more antithetical to American ideals about freedom and the responsibility of citizens to speak out against their government when they see fit than a government that arrests people for being critical on social media?

Media Bias

And here we have a consulting company that got paid to help the regime track down the naysayers. Can an American citizen who believes in the promise of our country and the freedoms that we all enjoy work for a company that helps a government repress its citizenry? I think not.

Aren’t some ideas and ideals more important than money? What does it profit a man if he gains the world, but loses his soul?

How interesting that Rhode Island’s “First Man”, Governor Raimondo’s husband Andrew Moffit, works for the McKinsey.

Did Moffit know that his company works to help oppressive regimes stifle the freedoms of their citizens? Is Moffit morally outraged by the actions of the company that he works for in a leadership position? Is Moffit going to step down from the company after this revelation?

Rhode Islanders should have answers to these question! Most reasonable people would agree with that sentiment.

Don’t expect to hear any answers to these questions though. That’s because the Rhode Island press corps isn’t interested in asking these questions. I brought this to their attention today on Twitter. But none of Rhode Island’s top reporters have pursued this line of questioning.

Does anyone doubt, for one second, that they’d be aggressively pursuing these questions if the Governor’s wife were a Republican?

And then the press corps has the nerve to get offended when people refer to them as “left-leaning”. They get all this righteous indignation when people point out the obvious, that they’re sympathetic to left-leaning politicians and that they go harder on right-leaning politicians.

This is illuminating, but it reveals a truth that Rhode Island political observers have always known. Republicans and center-right politicians are fighting an uphill battle thanks to the left-wing media’s biases.

Russell J. Moore is the publisher and founder of rirelevant.com. He’s been writing about Rhode Island since 2005. You should definitely follow him on twitter @russmoore713. If you want to send him email, you can send it to russmoore713@gmail.com